Objective: To determine if a new premixed self-etch adhesive can be used to successfully bond orthodontic brackets to enamel. Materials and Methods: Forty human molars were cleaned, mounted, and randomly divided into two groups. In group 1, 20 teeth were conditioned using the self-etching primer Transbond Plus (3M Unitek, Monrovia, Calif). In group 2, 20 teeth were conditioned using a new premixed selfetching adhesive, AdheSE One (Ivoclar Vivadent Inc, Amherst, NY). Both groups were bonded using brackets precoated with a composite adhesive. The teeth were debonded within half an hour following initial bonding using a universal testing machine. After debonding, the enamel surface was examined under 10ϫ magnifications to determine the amount of residual adhesive remaining on the tooth. A Student's t-test was used to compare the shear bond strength (SBS) of the two groups, and the Chi-square test was used to compare the adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores for the two adhesive systems.
Results:The mean SBS of the brackets bonded to the teeth using AdhesSE One was 3.6 Ϯ 1.3 MPa and was significantly lower (t ϭ 2.80, P ϭ .01) than the SBS of the brackets bonded using Transbond Plus (x ϭ 5.9 Ϯ 3.2 MPa). The comparisons of the ARI scores between the two groups ( 2 ϭ 19.26) indicated that bracket failure mode was also significantly different (P Ͻ .001), with more adhesive remaining on the teeth bonded using Transbond Plus. Conclusions: The SBS of the new premixed self-etching adhesive needs to be increased for it to be successfully used for bonding orthodontic brackets.